Politics and the Environment, Health and Freedom

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“If people let the government decide what foods they eat 
and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon 
be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” 
             ~Thomas Jefferson

 

 

 

Politics is intimately connected with our treatment of the environment, our approach to good health, and our freedom to make personal choices we believe in. On this page I am collecting items that provide a powerful voice for a new way of looking at our political choices in this time when power, greed, and expediency seem to hold a grip on our society and our politicians.

Why you can't trust the experts

* Confronting the  Crisis in Nutrition - summary of the March 15, 2012, sessions at the Quest for Research Excellence Conference in Washington, DC
     Crisis In Nutrition IV - Vox Populi - on how the public is getting smart and turning away 
     from the 'experts'

* Politics of Obesity - The Politics of Obesity: Confronting Our National Eating Disorder
    A video at UCTV.com.
    http://www.uctv.tv/library-test.asp?showID=8417
   A panel discussion by Marion Nestle, Joan Dye Gussow, and Kelly Brownell,  moderated by 
   Michael Pollan

* Food Fight: The Inside Story of the Food Industry, America's Obesity Crisis, and What We Can Do About It by Kelly Brownell. This book is a fascinating analysis of the problem of obesity in this country, but he makes the error of blaming fat for obesity rather that all the processed fats and carbs and meat from factory raised animals. Kelly Brownell is a respected obesity expert, but he hasn't caught up with current wisdom about the importance of high quality fats from pasture raised animals, so take that into account in reading the book. 

Food Supply Politics - by one of our WAPF chapter leaders

Books on Food & Politics

* Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health by Marion Nestle

* This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader by Joan Dye Gussow - in which she pleads for an emphasis on locally produced food.

* The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
check Amazon

* What To Eat - The Ten Things You Really Need to Know to Eat Well and Be Healthy!, by Luise Light, M.S., Ed.D.  
Dr. Light is the nutritionist who headed the committee that designed the original food pyramid. In the book she tells the story of her shock when  politics at USDA led to a startling revision of what her committee had recommended for the original food pyramid as we knew it, supposedly to keep the cost of the food stamp program down, but also no doubt protection for the market for all the grains farmers were producing. Check out her Food Pyramid at her Website. Her dietary recommendations are quite good for a conventional nutritionist. See A Fatally Flawed Food Guide

* The Politics of Obesity by Anya Wolfenden
http://innerchangemag.com/0604/wolfenden_politicsofobesity.htm

* Beating the Food Giants by Paul A. Stitt - an online book on why you don't want to eat boxed breakfast cereals, or any processed food for that matter.

* The Politics and Economics of Food by Sally Fallon

Films on Food, Health & Politics

* Dr. Mercola on Farmageddon...The Unseen War on American Family Farms   

* Forks over Knives http://forksoverknives.com/ examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the so-called “diseases of affluence” that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.
??? There may be some important messages here, but I'm afraid it's a vegetarian screed against animal foods, considering who the directors are.

* The Future of Food - a video focusing on genetic engineering of our food
  An interview with the director http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5525474619600330392&hl=en 

* The Truth About Food, Inc.- Filmmaker Robert Kenner and Michael Pollan explain their new film, "Food, Inc." to John Dickerson.

* King Corn - www.kingcorn.net a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation.

* FoodMatters - www.foodmatters.tv 

* FRESH - www.Freshthemovie.com - celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system.

* Nourish - nourishlife.org  - What's the story of your food? - New 2010

* Percy Schmeiser - David versus Monsanto http://percyschmeiser.com/ 

* Dirt! - The Movie 

* My Justice Page, which covers a variety of related issues

* Obesity - the Health Issue of our Age  

Farm Politics

* The Cornucopia Institute is dedicated to the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community - http://cornucopia.org/ 

Some of the regulation issues they highlight - all aiming a dagger at the heart of small eco-farms - raw almonds, raw milk, fresh salad greens

* FoodDeclaration.org - Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture, Twelve Principles

* NAIS, National Animal Identification System, that threatens small farms all over America.   The NAIS Story from Liberty Ark Coalition

NoNAIS.org  www.nonais.org 

The Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance (FARFA) is leading the fight to save family farms and individuals from expensive and unnecessary government regulation.

* 'Sound Science' is Killing Us 
by Joel Salatin, April 2004
" In eco-agriculture, we must boldly and humbly hold fast to our heart.  It is what anchors us.  It is what moors us to truth when our culture vacillates every Monday morning with the latest discovery from sound science -- not.  Enjoy science, but only when it reinforces the spiritual, the heart. This reduces confusion and liberates the soul." 

* EVERYTHING I WANT TO DO IS ILLEGAL:  War Stories from the Local Food Front, by Joel Salatin - and FOLKS, THIS AIN'T NORMAL!

* Going Local on a Global Scale: Rethinking Food Trade in the Era of Climate Change, Dumping, and Rural Poverty 
by Kirsten Schwind, Food First Program Director

http://www.foodfirst.org/en/backgrounders/goinglocal

* Global Problems, Local Solutions by Wendell Berry [You must join to see the article, but here's an alternate linkX
"If the government does not propose to protect the lives, livelihoods and freedoms of its people, then the people must think about protecting themselves.  How are they to protect themselves? There seems, really, to be only one way, and that is to develop and put into practice the idea of a local economy..."   Small farms and local economics

* Is this why men keep getting us into war - it triggers their pleasure centers???
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1995847,00.html
Revenge: a dish that is best served cold by men

The results of a study at University College, London, published today in the journal Nature, indicates that sex may influence attitudes to punishment, with men keener for retribution for perceived insulting or unfair behaviour.

or at http://www.physorg.com/news10016.html 

Food Freedom blog http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/ 

http://www.greenfestivals.org/ 

Food Freedom - the new issue!

* Health Freedom Issues

     CODEX

Health Care Reform:

* On the need to break the medical monopoly: America's Socialized Health Care by Lawrence Wilson, M.D.

* The health care reform legislation that Congress should pass, but won't
NewTarget.com
http://www.newstarget.com/021610.html

* The Diabetes Conundrum: What Physicians are Teaching You may be Killing You http://www.mercola.com/2005/jun/21/diabetes.htm

Some interesting listening

* If you want to understand why cancer is such a killer, and how your body can stay healthy
Food as Medicine, by Jerry Brunetti  
http://www.nuganics.com.au/2007/07/06/jerry-brunetti-food-as-medicine/ 
or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC5uBd3HyAw or search in http://video.google.com/ for "Jerry Brunetti"

* Cancer, Nutrition & Healing - A Personal Odyssey, by Jerry Brunetti (DVD)

* Why We are Losing the War on Cancer - March 21, 2004 issue of Fortune:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2004/03/22/toc.html

* www.commonwealthclub.org - click on audio archives and find:
The Sept 12, 2006 recording of 
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
by Michael Pollan  His book, another article, and another article

Political Freedom

Solari - Navigating toward a Financially Intimate World
www.solari.com/

Where Would Jesus Bank?

Slow Money - www.slowmoney.org/ - bringing people together around a shared vision about what it means to be an investor in the 21st Century: It starts with the soil!

The End of America by Naomi Wolf. See the video clips.

How to Pay for What We Need, by Richard Striner
Bring Back the Greenback - Why can't Congress just print the money we need to fix the economy?

Trust the Government??? and Industry???

* "You Can’t Trust Consumers to Make the Right Choice About GM Foods. The Truth Would Be Confusing and Misleading!" Says FDA
 http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php/?page_id=333

* Why you can't trust the drug industry

* Trust Us, We're The Experts

* Populism - Jim Hightower Populism is Not a Style 
from the Hightower Lowdown 

and also with Organic Consumers Asso

IfYouLoveThisPlanet - a weekly radio show by Dr. Helen Caldicott http://ifyoulovethisplanet.org/

From a concerned friend:
Click below to read the frightening, and blood boiling ideas that your "honest" government is working on for your Republic. Congressman Ron Paul out of Texas has been warning us about this for years. More discussion in the film: America, From Freedom To Fascism. Spread this information far and wide. Your country depends on the prevention of this plan.

www.foodnotbombs.net/ 

www.freedomtofascism.com

www.stopthenorthamericanunion.com/TreasonAbounds.html 

See also Genetic Engineering - GMO's